We are a group of enthusiasts dedicated to teaching and learning about Linux and Unix. There is no membership fee to join. We welcome people of all levels of experience.

To learn more about PLUG please read our FAQ.

General Meeting Information

Our general meetings are usually held at 7:00 PM on the first Thursday of every month, unless the first Thursday falls on a major holiday. Our meetings are generally held in Room FAB 86-01 of The Fariborz Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science Building at Portland State University. This room is hidden away in the basement; but go into the Fariborz Maseeh College of Engineering building, go to down stairs to the basement and wonder around the halls and you will find it. If you are really having trouble call David Mandel on his cell phone at 541-730-5285. Our meetings are almost always in this location, but check a few days before a meeting as we do need to change meeting locations once in a while. The Fariborz Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science Building (also nick named The New Engineering Building) is on SW 4th across from SW College Street. (See location H-10 on the map at http://pdxLinux.org/campus_map.jpg )

Our next meeting will be 7 PM Thursday August 5, 2010 in Room FAB 86-01 of The Fariborz Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science Building at Portland State University. This building (also nick named The New Engineering Building) is on SW 4th across from SW College Street. (See location H-10 on the map at http://pdxLinux.org/campus_map.jpg )

The presentation will be: 

 
                                 PRESENTATION

                      Server Sky - Data Centers in Orbit
               Power for computation on a Moore's Law schedule

                    Keith Lofstrom, http://server-sky.com

     The EPA estimates US data centers (not including desktops)
     consumed 1.5% of total US electrical consumption in 2006.
     They predict a doubling to 3% of base load by 2011.  Our
     work as programmers and technologists continues this
     runaway exponential growth, and we will be stopped by
     environmental and resource limits soon.

     Server sky is a proposal to use newly emerging solid state
     technologies to build large arrays of 3 gram paper-thin
     solar-powered computation satellites in 6400km Earth orbits.

     A single server-sat replaces 15 watts of ground-based
     electrical generation, cooling, and power conversion, as
     well as the computation and communication hardware itself.
     Orbital server farms may start out as expensive as current
     approaches, but design improvement and cheaper launch will
     decrease costs exponentially over time, much as transistor
     cost has plummeted over the last four decades.

     This is open technology, responsive to public input, and
     the project needs volunteer software and engineering help
     to stay that way.  Eventually, Server Sky will create
     thousands of open technology jobs in the Portland area,
     and permit unbounded computation growth in space, while
     reducing energy demand and environmental damage on Earth.

     Earth can return to what it is good at green and growing
     things while we fill space with gray and computing things.

Please note: We have moved the PLUG meetings from Smith Memorial Center to the New Engineering Building at Portland State University. The New Engineering Building is on SW 4th across from SW College Street. (See location H-10 on the map at http://pdxLinux.org/campus_map.jpg ) We expect to be at the new location for all of 2008, and maybe much longer.

Many presenters at our meetings put their presentation notes on the Internet. We have a list of presentations with links to their presentation notes, but sadly, this archive is incomplete. If you have knowledge of any presentations online we do not link to here, please contact the webmaster <geoff AT pdxlinux DOT org> so that they can be added!

Linux Advanced Topics Talk

We have a monthly talk about topics for advanced Linux users, which usually meets once a month every third Monday at 7:00pm, following very specific rules.

The topic of the next meeting, 19 November, will be announced.

The meeting will be at Jax 826 SW 2nd Ave, Portland OR. Jax is on the MAX Line, next to Bally's Fitness.

The meeting time is 7:00pm, and the usual meeting rules apply. Void where prohibited by natural law or a plausible imitation. Happy Hour meal prices apply for the first hour. (But you have to buy at least one drink to get those prices.)

John Todd has made the powerpoint slides from his presentation at the August, 2003 meeting on Asterisk available on the web. He asks, "if that you use this slideshow or portions of it, that you retain my name, email address, and copyright notices for those sections. I feel no remorse in asking you to give me some ad space in front of your CFO if you're using my slides."

PLUG Clinics resume!

Due to popular demand, PLUG volunteers are once again holding a monthly clinic to help one and all with their Linux (and other *NIX) computer problems on the third Sunday of every month.
This month's clinic will be 17 August, 1-5 pm.

LOCATION: Free Geek Community Technology Center, 1731 SE 10th Avenue, Portland, OR

NOTE: Free Geek is closed Sundays, and no one will be answering the phones. Please enter through the south door, next to the Thrift Store. We'll have a sign by the door.

Web page news

12 Mar 2004 Mail list archives are now available without needing to log in.
Older Web page news

. . .  and that's PLUG as in “adapter”, not as in “your ears”!